


Imprinted

by Hayhays97



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Angst, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-12
Updated: 2017-08-12
Packaged: 2018-12-14 08:14:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11779050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hayhays97/pseuds/Hayhays97
Summary: After losing sight of Evelyn during a fight in a dust storm, Danse goes searching and finds her rather distressed by something she's found.





	Imprinted

**Author's Note:**

> I've been struggling to write lately, I've had no inspiration and that sucks, but regardless I thought up this prompt a few weeks back and just had it sitting there till I thought of something. Thanks for reading!

Danse took a deep breathe as he watched the final ghoul crumble to the ground, its last feeble gargles of life lost on the wind that whistled through holes of the rusted over machinery and old tin sheds that littered the lot. He holstered his gun, circling to spot Evelyn and the triumphant grin that normally lit up her face after a good fight. But all he saw was the billowing dust that had been developing since they got there.  
"Evelyn!" Danse yelled, ears straining to hear a response as his voice was swallowed up by the wind. The storm was getting worse and the dust cloud that swept across the wasteland and swirled up around his knees was making it impossible to see more than a few metres ahead. "Evie!" Danse tried to ignore the panic that rose in his chest as he pushed forward, hand shielding the dirt that whipped at his face. He forced himself to scan the ground as he went, a task that got harder and harder each time he and Evelyn got separated. Too many times his eyes fooled him into thinking a bloodied corpse belonged to her.

Danse continued to yell her name, with no response. The storm had smothered all of his senses and he was losing hope of finding her before dark. His best hope would he to hide out in one of the sheds until the wind died down, and only hope that if Evelyn was out there she'd do the same. It took Danse three goes to navigate towards a shed, each time the wind pushed him off course until he realised he was going in circles, passing the same bolder, same dead ghoul or same scrap of metal. He began waiting for lulls in the gusts, when the dust dropped just enough for him to raise his head and see something ahead of him.

He pressed himself against the tin wall when he finally reached something solid, hands pushing along it till he fell into the doorway. He scrubbed at his sore eyes, trying to remove the dirt that was blurring his vision, but he had little luck thanks to his dirt coated hands and the dust that fell from his hair every time he moved. With a frustrated growl he blinked away as much as he could and assessed his shelter. He'd found one of the larger sheds, likely a mechanic judging from the old tools scattered about and the oil stains on the parts of the concrete that hadn't cracked and crumbled away. The whole building swayed and the tin panels cracked loudly against its bearings, threatening to collapse entirely at any moment. But a brief break in the banging alerted him to a creaking of movement upstairs. Danse drew his gun, moving towards the stairs that creaked and rocked precariously. As he got closer he could hear metal scratching on metal, the sound making goosebumps rise on his skin and his hair to stand on end. The steps would be near impossible to climb without making a sound, and after concluding he couldn't make it up the first step without making it creak he gave up.  
"Who's there?" He hesitated, they had to of known he was there, he navigated slowly up the stairs, gun fixed on any noise.  
"Danse-?" A voice called back  
"Evelyn!" Danse holstered his gun and took the rest of the steps two at a time, immediately spotting Evelyn on her knees in one of the darkened corners behind piles of boxes and furniture. "Are you hurt?" He rushed to her side, hands feeling for any broken bones but she shrugged him off.  
"I'm fine." She looked distressed, a shard of metal in her hand  
"What are you doing? I've been looking for you,"  
"I'm sorry, I came in here to get away from the storm, figured it would be the easiest way to find you."  
"Why are you up here?"  
"I came up to see if there was anything to take, but look at this, Danse-" she dropped the metal and pointed to the wall. Danse squinted at a chipped away section of the rusted sheeting, words were scrawled under a roughly etched heart.  
"'Kate and Evan'?" Danse felt slightly guilty, he wasn't seeing the significance that had Evelyn so upset. But she pulled a pile of torn papers from a chest in front of her, waving them at Danse.  
"They were just kids. Sixteen. This is what's left of Kate's journal, she lived here and Evan was from the farm down the street. Their parents didn't want them near each other because of some feud, so they'd hide up here."  
"Evie-" he'd began to see the connection, she'd spoken a bit about her relationship with Nate in the past.  
She shook her head, a sad smile on her face "that was Nate and I. We weren't allowed to see each other. Our parents put too much pressure on our future, Nate had to focus on army training and I was constantly studying, we used to see each other in secret too."  
Evelyn turned her hand over to show a tarnished silver band in her palm, blood was caked to its dull surface "this was on one of the ghouls, I think it was Kate." She looked down at the ring, clutching it in her hand again "they'd planned to get married in secret. But then-"  
Danse didn't know what to say, he just watched as Evelyn packed away the journal entries and placed the ring in the chest. She reached out to brush her fingers over the engraving on the wall "you know, I did this once, scratched Nate and my name into my bed head, boy did I get in trouble when my father found it." Danse smiled along with her, when he remembered the shard she'd dropped by her side  
"What was that for?"  
Evelyn followed his gaze and shrugged, picking it up "as sad as it is, it's nice this stuff has lasted so long, I thought I would-"  
Instead of finishing her sentence she shuffled forward, continuing at the metal she'd been chipping away at earlier, further along from Kate and Evan's names. Danse gave her privacy, it was obviously something that meant a lot to her. 

The storm had died down by the time Evelyn sat back on her heels, admiring her work. She dropped the shard and rubbed at the indents it had left in her palm. "Hey, Danse."  
He turned back, not really want to see Nate's name where he thought his belonged, but smiled when he saw his name along side hers, separated by a plus sign that looked more like and X and sitting beneath a skull with a flat head from the uncooperative metal.  
Evelyn shrugged and offered him an apologetic smile "I thought the heart was too cliche, but I mean it lovingly."  
Danse chuckled "it seems more fitting anyway."  
She laughed "I thought so."  
Danse stepped forward and offered her a hand, "the storm's calmed, we should go." Evelyn let him pull her feet "I should engrave my name at every place we go. Like a calling card." She pondered as she followed him towards the stairs.  
"Let's just make surviving a priority first, soldier."


End file.
